I had no stuff to bring except my clothes.
I dried off and took a good look at the scar on my arm. The place where the Zombie had bitten me had never healed. A large, ugly patch of dead skin. Once a week, my Uncle Dane injected me with a serum he’d made to stop the dead skin from spreading. I’d have to do it forever. Sometimes it took fifty shots to get it right. Every Monday. Nine in the morning. By the time he finished, I was usually silently crying. I couldn’t help it. Pain was pain.
I never fussed. I never objected.
I just endured.
I dressed in a black skirt, black boots that made me look taller and fiercer, and a black turtleneck sweater to match. No one bothered the girl dressed in black. It matched my dark hair and eyes. I grabbed my backpack, swinging it over my shoulder. My clothes and the serum I needed were inside. Dane had given me three months’ worth in case, for some reason, we were separated. Nothing could be taken for granted anymore, not even our getting on the same ship.
If I had to, I knew how to inject myself.
My communicator beeped, and I picked it up. My mother was on the other line. I didn’t say hello. I knew what she wanted. “I’m on my way there now. I’ll be on the shuttle in an hour.”
“Just making sure you didn’t oversleep.”
I fingered one of my wedding rings around my neck. “I never sleep. Not possible to overdo it on two hours a night.”
Her sigh made me feel bad for being surly. “I want to talk again when we get there. Wes will recreate the time device that moved you through the black hole, the device that didn’t allow the black hole to hold back years. He’ll do it. We’ll take you. After we get set up.”
“I don’t know where they are, and every minute we’re here, their timeline moves forward. Time moves faster there. The second I arrived here, they were probably ten years older. Or more. I’ll see you on the shuttle. Be careful. Sandler wants you as much as the station. They want to break the Alexander reign.”
I didn’t tell her anything she didn’t know. I worried; we all did. In the time I’d been away, my family discovered a lot of things, including the Sanders’ objectives of universal domination. There were individual accomplishments that meant things to their leaders. Capturing my mother was one of them.
She refused to cower.
“Uncle Nolan and your father are flanking me. You be careful, too.”
I wasn’t on anyone’s list, which didn’t mean they wouldn’t use me to get to her. I wasn’t going to be taken. No one hid as well as I did.
I disconnected our call and walked quickly from my small apartment onto the main pathway, which would take me to the shuttle where my family waited. The only people left on the station were either leaving today or staying through the changeover. Sanders wanted the station, and some people didn’t care who ran it. I hoped they weren’t all beheaded by the end of the day.
Two people nodded at me. They wouldn’t have before I’d gotten sucked through the black hole and come back having survived a Zombie bite. I’d gone from odd to exotic. I didn’t care.
The only people whose opinions mattered to me were probably fifty or sixty years old on the other side of the universe. I hoped they had wives. I hoped they’d made lives. I knew they’d loved me. I could still feel them in my soul. I would always be married to them. But I didn’t wish my loneliness on them. Just the opposite. I wanted them to be happy.
And to remember me well.
Even if what I really wanted was to claw out their wives’ eyes.
I hurried up. The sooner I got on the ship, the better. Time moved forward; it always did. This would be another phase in my life.
Maybe they hadn’t all remarried. Maybe some of them had missed me forever too. Okay, maybe all of them had. I groaned. Diana Mallory, crazy and lonely …
The hallway was crowded, and I was soon part of a crowd moving slowly. I didn’t have far to go. I forced myself to slow and put up with the inconvenience. There’d been a time when I wouldn’t have cared, when I wasn’t running from a human enemy and from time itself.
Anything that got in my way made me want to throw things.
On my left, something caught my attention. I didn’t know what it was. A man stood, leaning against one of the closed bakeries. He pulled his hoodie up over his head and looked left and right. I stopped moving, and the person behind me oomphed into my behind. I said a quick sorry and ran ahead a bit to get a better look at the guy who’d caught my attention. I saw my husbands a hundred times a week in other people. It was never them.
Despite my own family’s story about getting through the black hole, the likelihood my guys could pull it off while they were under the thumb of Evander was slim to none. It had taken my family eight years to reconnect. If the exact same thing were to happen for me, it would be six years at least.
Still, the guy to the side seemed so damned familiar. He stepped toward the crowd, his hoodie falling back again.
It was … him. It … was Damian.
How was he here? My heartrate kicked up until I could hear it in my ears. I took off running. I couldn’t speak, couldn’t call his name. I ran toward him, my boots clicking loudly on the floor. I slammed into someone, couldn’t even apologize, and grabbed Damian’s arm.
He whirled around, facing me. I saw the recognition hit him as he saw me. “Di … Diana.” His voice shook, and then his arms were around me.
“Diana,” he said again, tugging me close, so tightly I could hardly breathe. “We thought … when we pulled in today, everyone was leaving. We thought you were gone. Judge was coming up with plans …but I told them I had to give it a last look. You’re here. You’re here.”
I breathed him in. He smelled right. One of my guys. My love. Two years without him and we’d almost missed each other. “Damian. We—oh gosh—we have to get out of here now. It’s not safe. Where are the others?”
He nodded, his eyes steeling into focus. “On Artemis. Come on.”
I grabbed my communicator and sent my mom a message. It was brief, unclear, but I hoped she got the gist I had found one of my husbands and was getting on Artemis. I’d meet her on the planet.
Damian took my hand, and I felt his strong fingers in mine. “How did you get here?” I shouted to be heard over the crowd.
“Later,” he yelled back. “I-I can’t think. If you’re not safe, I’ll get you safe. Please.”
I never could deny his please. We walked what felt like forever but eventually made it into the docking station where ships came and went. Artemis was three-quarters of the way down. I saw Sterling and Cash talking outside of the ship and could hardly believe the sight. There they were. They were there.
I …
Sterling saw me first; he leapt into a run and had his arms around me in seconds. I hung on. What was he saying? Sorry? What was he sorry for? I pressed my forehead to his chest. And then I was being passed into Cash’s waiting hug. He said some things too. Love. Yes, I loved him, too. But I couldn’t think.
Was it possible to go into shock from finally having your dreams come true?
Lewis and Judge were suddenly there too. They were all hugging me, all touching me. There was so much noise.
I breathed out. “Hi.”
“She’s going to faint.” Lewis’ voice pushed through. “Let’s give her some air.” His arm was around my waist. “Come inside. Sit down. Someone go get her water.”
I was soon on one of the couches from Orion. They must have brought it onto Artemis. A blanket was around me, water in my hand, and they were all snuggled near me, either on the couch or the floor next to it.
I held out my hand. “We have to get off this station. I need to think. I’m so happy you’re here. You can’t know.” My voice shook. “I …”
Sterling kissed my cheek. He sat to my left. I leaned on Cash, who stroked my arm. Damian was right in front of me, kneeling down. Lewis and Judge were each touching my knees. They were so beautiful.
“Where do you want t
o go?” Sterling kissed my cheek again. “I’ll put in the coordinates.”
I had them memorized. My mother had insisted. Sterling jumped up to go enter them and fly the ship out of the station. Lewis took his place.
He touched my arm over the dead skin. “How are you here? Please don’t get me wrong, this is what I’d hoped for. But you should be dead. I want to know what he did and … why your arm is the way it is.”
“Please don’t look at it. I mean, I guess you’re going to have to look at it. One of you will have to give me my injections until we get to where we’re going. Or I can do it. Don’t look. It’s gross.”
Cash actually kissed the yucky part of my skin. “It’s not gross. You’re alive. Help us understand.”
“You’ll have to talk to Dane. He’s the one who did it. All I know is he used your research, and he could manage all of it except right here. This has to be constantly managed, stopped from taking over again. Every Monday.”
Lewis stroked the spot. They were really preoccupied. “We can wound care. That’s no problem whatsoever.”
“It’s not gross.” That was the first time Judge had spoken since we’d come on board. “It’s a miracle. A battle wound.”
The ship jerked, indicating it moved through space, and Sterling came back to us, having put the ship into auto pilot.
He grabbed me from the couch until I could look him straight in the eyes. “We failed you. We all promised you’d never be alone on Orion and you’d never get hurt by the Infected. Both things happened. Please forgive me.”
“And me,” Judge added.
Three other repeats of the same request were made over and over.
I put my arms around Sterling where he held me. “You didn’t do it on purpose. None of you could have predicted what would happen. There’s nothing to forgive. How are you here in two years?”
Judge rose. “Do you remember that weird device that made the time differential in the cave?”
“Actually, I’ve seen it’s like many times since then. My Uncle Wes made it. It’s his invention.”
Judge made eye contact with Damian. “What?”
Damian added, “Explain.”
I knew where it had been hooked into the engine. I’d seen it on C.J.’s ship when they rescued me. I walked to the engine room, all five of them on my tail, and bent down to look at the device. “He made one. As far as I know, there’s only the one. It let him hook the ship up to follow my time stream.” I touched the writing. “It can’t be but … this is his handwriting.”
“It can be.” Judge exhaled loudly. “Time travel makes my frickin’ head hurt. Or at least it does today. Can we figure out this mystery another time?”
“Yes,” Cash added. “We’ve had two years to imagine this moment. You look … incredible. Alive. Beautiful. Bright-eyed now that the shock has worn off. And wearing clothes that aren’t too big on you. Pretty, actually. Do you have a thing for black?”
“Black tells other people to leave me alone. Off limits.”
Lewis smirked. “It isn’t telling me to leave you alone.”
Heat surged inside of me. They all had that look in their eyes, and we were all together. What did they have in mind?
“We figure,” Lewis continued. “You can handle two of us at once. There are five. Someone really has to watch the helm. We all know how to do that now. We drew straws. Are you up for a little sharing? We’ve never done it, but we think we’ve worked it out.”
“I think I’ve missed all five of you for two years. If you want to share me in the bed too, then let’s give it a go.”
Lewis grinned. “That’s awesome.” He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. I squealed, and Sterling patted my rear end. “Her room has the biggest bed.”
“See you in a bit.” Cash winked at me. “If you fall asleep, we’re going to wake you up.”
Lewis dropped me on the bed while Sterling kicked the door closed. They both stood over me, and my mouth went dry. There were little things I’d forgotten about them, even though I wouldn’t have thought it possible.
Sterling had a freckle on the left side of his neck. I didn’t think I’d ever tongued it. I really wanted to. Lewis stood with one foot slightly in front of the other, as though he might be ready to run at any time. Or in this case, jump on me.
Lewis spoke first. “We considered figuring out how we could all be together, all five of us, with you. It might be a possibility someday. But not today. Too much too soon. Ease into that. And we still all want our alone times.”
“I’m not sure how to start this … I …”
Lewis’ mouth was on me. He kissed me, hard. “We’ve got it. I promise.”
Sterling jumped on the bed, coming up behind me. His hand travelled up my spine over the shirt before he pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it aside. “Not wearing a bra?”
“They’re tiny. Sometimes I don’t need one.”
Lewis groaned. “Now I’m going to be hard every day, all day thinking of you bra-less.”
“Sweet baby.” Sterling nipped at my ear. “Are you wearing panties?”
I shook my head, and they both made growly noises in their throats. I could have explained that the skirt went to my calves, but they didn’t seem to want to discuss clothing, and neither did I. Lewis tugged my skirt down my legs; my shoes were thrown aside. I was naked, and they were completely dressed. That quickly changed.
And then, before I could think, they were both all over me. Lewis was at my mouth, kissing me over and over again while Sterling gripped my hips, kissing my neck, my shoulders. I moaned. Every nerve ending in my body had gone on high alert. This was what it was to be worshiped. Lewis’ eyes were hot—steaming—and his cock stood strong and erect against my stomach. I wanted it in me, but I suspected we were just getting started.
I grabbed onto Lewis’ neck to hold on while, with my other hand, I gripped Sterling’s legs. They were both erect and unashamedly into me at the same time.
“Stop thinking,” Sterling ordered. He pressed me up against him to grind his cock into my rear. I moaned. And then it was more like I floated. Pleasure mixed with relief, making me giddy. Lewis pressed a finger inside of me, finding my clit. He stroked it, and my muscles clenched around his hand.
Sterling patted my rear end. “Think you missed us as much as we did you, pretty baby. I’m going to come fast. I knew I’d be worked up; I didn’t realize I’d have lost all control.”
“Same thing.” Lewis’ voice was low. “Here’s what we’re going to do. Sterling is going to come inside of you, and assuming you are willing, you are going to take me in your mouth.”
My mouth watered. “I’m willing.”
“Good girl,” Sterling crooned in my ear.
We repositioned until I could take Lewis in my mouth and Sterling could enter me at the same time. The whole thing might have been awkward if it hadn’t been completely organic. I tasted Lewis in my mouth. He was hot, throbbing, and ready for me. I didn’t care if he was too big for me. I wanted as much of him as I could get. Who needed to breathe?
I deep throated him. Lewis’ hips jerked off the bed just as Sterling pressed inside of me. I moaned at the taste of Lewis—salty and all male. My two husbands were in the bed with me; both liked to be in control, neither one of them liked to be vulnerable, and yet they both gave in to this moment like they trusted me to always take care of them. I would.
My pussy throbbed. Our dance of sucking and pressing became a movement all our own. Lewis gripped the bed, his head thrown back. As Sterling fucked me, he made the best noises I’d ever heard. He sounded desperate. His hand found my clit, and with a grunt he pressed on it. I came hard and long.
As I moaned, Lewis came into my mouth. He groaned his release while Sterling sighed his. I throbbed everywhere. My ears rang.
“Fuck.” Lewis scooted around, pulling me with him until I was between him and Sterling. He kissed my forehead. “Missed you, Doll. So much.” His voice shook.
>
“Too much. Love you. Love you,” Sterling whispered in my ear. “The way you let us love you, the way you love us back. I thought maybe I’d imagined how good it was. Some nights I convinced myself you weren’t real, that you couldn’t be. You are. You’re here. You’re ours.”
I closed my eyes. “I love you two completely.”
I fell asleep. Waking up, I heard Lewis snore deeply behind me. Sterling breathed evenly, his eyes closed. How long had I dozed off, and more importantly, what had woken me?
I was lifted from the bed, Cash’s strong arms coming around me. “Told you I was going to wake you up,” he whispered in my ear.
Sterling made a whining sigh but didn’t otherwise move, and Lewis continued to snore the sleep of the truly out of it.
Cash took me down the hall to another bedroom. They’d made the ship their own, and I loved it. It felt right that Artemis should belong to them now. They’d travelled the universe in it, and now it was as though they’d breathed life back into her.
Judge sprawled out on the center of the bed.
“Hi.” I grinned at him, and he smiled back.
“Have a nap, Di? Been waiting for you.”
His eyes were proprietary, and my heartrate kicked up. “I’m up now.”
Cash kissed my neck. “Good.”
Crashing Into Destiny (Wings of Artemis Book 3) Page 27
